Post War Britain OCR Heath 1970-1974

·         Heath was the first conservative elected by the party

·         No part of the establishment

·         Grammar school educated

·         Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech on immigration – increased conservative vote

·         The poor economic record and weak industrial relations had lost the Labour party support.

·         They won with a majority of 30 seats

Successes

ü  Market forces – allowed fair bargaining between employers and workers

ü  1971 industrial relations act – helped prevent disturbances cause by strikes               

ü  EEC admission 1973

 - ECC admission

Advances

ü  Gained access to European markets

ü  Better chance of attracting foreign businesses

ü  British workers had the right to work in other EEC countries

Disadvantages

Ø  No longer able to buy cheap food from the commonwealth

Ø  Had to impose added value to tax

Ø  EEC was beginning to look dated as an era of global markets…